Photo Courtesy: Hannah Kirby
The Florida A&M football team is off to a good start.
Under the new direction of head coach James Colzie III, the Rattlers are undefeated after wins over Norfolk State and South Carolina State.
The Rattlers are now ranked 24th in the American Football Coaches Association Poll after beginning the season at No. 25. This is the Rattlers’ fifth straight season being in the Top 25.
Coming off of last Saturday’s win, FAMU enters this week with the nation’s longest winning streak in the FCS with 13 straight wins. They also hold the nation’s longest home-game winning streak with 21 straight wins at Bragg.
Tuesday morning at practice the team was surprised with an appearance from former NFL player and SuperBowl champion Gary Reasons who came bearing gifts. Reasons presented Quarterback Daniel Richardson with the inaugural FCS HBCU Player of the week award.
During Monday’s practice, former NFL player and Super Bowl champion Gary Reasons made an appearance. He presented quarterback Daniel Richardson with the inaugural FCS HBCU Player of the Week Award.
In just his first season with the Rattlers, Richardson is already making his presence known. He isn’t, however, taking all of the credit.
“It’s a great accomplishment for me personally at the end of the day,” Richardson said. “But I couldn’t have done it without the guys up front.”
The team will travel to Miami this weekend to play the Hurricanes. While the Rattlers have been victorious in the last two games, there has been some concern with consistency.
FAMU assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Joseph Henry says he is content with these victories but knows the Rattlers can and will play better this season.
“We did what we needed to do and that was to win the football game,” Henry said. “We’ve got to find a way to start faster and we’ve got to find a way to fight against those mid-game lows that we had so we can play at a high level the whole game”
The Rattlers had comeback wins against both Norfolk State and SCSU and did not retain steady leads until late into the second half of both games.
While Coach Colzie is proud of this team’s progress, he notes that a match with such a dynamic team can not be taken lightly.
“They’re[Miami] an extremely athletic, big-time offensive line,” Colzie said. “They’re obviously very good at their skill positions, so we have our work cut out for us. We have faced some really good FCS programs over the last couple years and I expect our guys to come out and play.”
Both coaches and players say they are excited to hit the field this weekend, not only for an opportunity to get a win under their belt for the season, but also to get exposure for professional football.
The game will kickoff Saturday evening at six P.M. Eastern Standard Time, the game will be streamed on ESPN Live.
The Rattlers will play Miami on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 6 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+ and ACC Network.